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Luke 4:16-2116 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

There are four significant things His reading mentions that He is ascribing to Himself:

1. Jesus is acknowledging that He is anointed. The Holy Spirit is upon Him.

I’m going to take a moment and insert a pet peeve of mine. I have met many who will judge from one Sunday to the next as to whether they feel that the worship service was anointed, the worship songs were anointed or the sermon was anointed. This is unscriptural. People are anointed for God’s service. Either they are or they are not. Objects like a building can be anointed for God’s service. Either they are or they are not. Actions are not anointed. We flow in the anointing.

Jesus said that He was anointed. Do you think that He had days that He became un-anointed? No way!

The root word for anoint is meshakh. The first letter is the “Mem” which means water or liquid. The second letter is “Shin” which means consume. The last letter is “Tav” which means mark or sign. It can also mean covenant. To be anointed is to be marked with a covenant mark, consumed or totally covered by the liquid.

The word “anointing” as in anointing oil has a “Hey,” which represents breath or the Holy Spirit. He is our anointing oil. The word “Messiah” is anoint with a “Yod” inserted into the word. Yod represents an arm which means that the anointing comes from the arm of God.

2. Jesus was anointed as Prophet. He is declaring the good news to the poor or needy and proclaiming the favored year of the Lord.

3. Jesus was anointed as Priest. His message mends the broken heart. He is sent to heal the brokenhearted or shattered inner man. He is sent to give sight back to the blind.

4. Jesus was anointed King. He is sent to give freedom to those imprisoned. He is sent to set the oppressed free.

So, what was Jesus saying? “You have looked for the anointed one. I am here.” The word Messiah means the “Anointed One.”

He sat down and declared, “This scripture has come to life. Here I am.” Basically, what they are hearing him say is that He is the Messiah, the Anointed One. This they understood clearly.

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Luke 4:16-2116 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Approximately 18 years have now passed since Jesus’ first visit to Jerusalem with His parents for the Passover Celebration. The message has had much time to develop and it could not be any clearer than it is on this day. He is standing before people that He grew up with. He grew up in this synagogue and attended every Saturday. Through the week He attended school here as a boy. Now, possibly for the first time, He is taking His turn in this mornings reading from the Tanakh and He chooses Isaiah, one of His favorite books.

Just two to three months earlier Jesus, in submitting Himself to John’s message of repentance, experienced the first step in His 40 day initiation that takes Him from a His private world into the beginnings of a World phenomenon. The message that He brings will shake the world.

We are not sure how much time has passed from the time that He concluded His 40 day fast until He stood before the Nazareth Synagogue, but we do know that Jesus did not waist time between the eastern wilderness and His hometown. For weeks He moved from place to place, spending more time in Capernaum, continuing the message of repentance that John the Baptist was known for.

Jesus opened the scroll and read from Isaiah 61:1-2. This passage is known as the Jubilee passage. The year of Jubilee was a law which stated that on the 50th year all land would go back to the original family owners, all debts would be cancelled, and all Jewish slaves would be released.

The context of the Isaiah verse is the captivity of Judah in Babylon as is being prophesied. Isaiah prophesied that because of the sin of the southern Kingdom of Israel that they would be captured and moved to Babylon. But there was a time limit – 70 years.

Why seventy? Not only was there the year of Jubilee every 50 years but there was a year of rest every 7 years where no crops were planted to give the land a rest. But Israel forgot to do this for 490 years.

So, Israel was placed into captivity one year for ever year of rest they infracted upon – That would be 70 years.

Jesus is our Jubilee. Not a year but an era.

To find awesome iPhone & iPad apps for the Christian Walk and Ministry go to n8slist.com

Luke 2:41-42His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.

This passage is not so unusual. A set of parents taking their son to participate in a big event. Jesus is now of the age to begin His entry into manhood. Up to this point, as a traditional Jewish boy, He had been a student of the Tanakh (scripture collection of the Old Testament), memorized the five books of the Torah (the law), and has possibly began His studies in the Talmud (collection of teachings and ethics). It becomes very evident from His three day stay in Jerusalem and His knowledge of Scripture later in life, that Jesus was passionate about the ways of His Heavenly Father. “…I must be about my Father’s business.”

My son has a love for cars. At age 15 he purchased his first car for $750.00, a 1969 Mustang. He poured two years into its restoration and about $7,000. By the age of 18 he owned an additional 4 cars; a 67′ convertible Mustang, a ’95 convertible Mustang, a ’79 Z28, and a ’05 Focus. He worked at a cookie store and paid cash for all but the Focus. Instead, he paid the five year payment off on it in less than 3 years. Within the next two years I had to stress to him how important it was to focus on one project car and get rid of the rest. My driveway had become a car lot.

Today, between his ministry trips to Romania, he works 60+ hours a week as an auto mechanic. He has a passion for cars and a second love for Romania.

At the age of 12 Jesus’ passion was already evident. He loved the Word of God. He loved to talk about the things of His Father. He was already, at this age, aware of what His Heavenly Father’s business was and wanted to be a part of it.

Separated from His parents for three days, would it not have dawned on Him that His parents might be stressing over His absence? Where did He sleep? Who fed Him during the days?

He was a normal 12 year old lost in His growing passion. The last verse of this chapter describes Jesus as increasing in wisdom. How many wise 12 year old boys do you know? None and Jesus was a human boy. But, how many 12 year olds already have a passion? Some do and Jesus was one of them.

Therefore, I do not believe that this was His last trip over the next 18 years before His ministry. But, this may have been the last time He sat and talked with the leaders for three days like this.

If he did not talk about the greatness of God and the conflict of God’s Word and their modern culture with these leaders anymore, then who did He discourse with? Joseph? Mary? Neighborhood boys? His local Rabbi?

For the most part, I believe that much of it Jesus kept bottled up, ready to explode it upon a people who are hungry to hear what He has to say. For this, He will need someone to work the crowd. Someone who will spread a single word, “Change.” And John the Baptist one of the few who did this effectively. “Repent!”

It has been 10 years since my son’s first car and he still has it and the ’95 convertible. He collects facts, attends classes to advance his career, is making plans to do a second restoration on his first car, and knows more about his field than most his age.

We may not have anymore glimpses into the life of Jesus until He enters into ministry, but you can be assured that His passion for the Father and the Word always set the stage for any conversation and any collections He may have had.

If He was truly 30 years of age when He began His ministry then He spent most of his childhood, his teen years and his young adult life preparing for the moment that He would pour His wealth of collection into a small group of men. Jesus’ investment into their lives would change them forever and thus change the world.

To find awesome iPhone & iPad apps for the Christian Walk and Ministry go to n8slist.com

Genesis 15:5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

This promise is related to several other references to the promise of descendants that God gave to Abram, now Abraham.

Genesis 13:16 – seed as numerous as the dust of the earth.

Genesis 15:5 – count the stars, so shall your seed be.

Genesis 22:17 – seed will be as numerous as the stars and the sand on the seashore

But, there are three things different about this particular verse.

First – bowels:In verse 4 God said that he would have an heir from his body. The King James says from his “bowels.” Abram will have an heir from his “bowels.” Does this mean that God did not know that the bowels have nothing to do with the bowels? No. In Genesis 3:15 God knew that the woman carried the seed and science did not prove this until 180 years ago.

This word can also means “womb.” So, does Abram have a womb? So to speak, yes. That womb would be in Sarai. This is one reason why it was not enough for Hagar to have a son for Abram. Hagar was not his womb. Sarah was. This is on the same terms by which God describes a nake wife as the husband’s nakedness.

Second – seed: “Zera” – This word is translated as “descendants” in the New King James and offspring in others. Whereas, it is translated as “seed” in the King James. This is one time that the King James has the better translation.

The word is not plural but singular. At first glance we would say that it would be ok to translate the word as descendants. That is the meaning, right? But to translate it as descendants removes a deeper level of meaning. On the surface we can look ahead and know that this seed is Isaac. But, it has a deeper meaning. The original word literally means seed. It’s the same word used in Genesis 1 during creation.

To better understand the deeper meaning of the word seed, let’s go back to Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.

Then, let’s remember that in the pictograph of the Hebrew alphabet for Noah’s name means protected seed and grace, with the same two letters but reversed, means the protector of the seed. Grace secured God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 across the flood. The seed that God told about, the first mention of the Messiah in Genesis 3:15, came across in the ark through the undeserving favor or grace of God.

Therefore, the deeper meaning of Genesis 15:5 is that God is promising the coming of the Messiah through Abraham.

Am I stretching this? Not if you believe what Paul says:

Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.

Therefore, “Zera” should remain as seed not descendants.

If it is ONE seed then how do we explain counting the stars? It goes back to translation again. There is Genesis 15:5 again, Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Third, – count & number: Both of these words are the same Hebrew word – Safar, which also means “rehearse or relate.” How do you relate or rehearse the stars?

According to God in Genesis 1:14 the stars were for a sign. Today we have a zodiac that is very similar to constellation signs found in many old cultures around the world.

Have you every asked how in the world do they get a Virgin or a lion out of a constellation? What the constellations look like are not by connecting the dots but by knowing the names and means of the brightest stars in each constellation, going to the brightest to the next to the brightest and so forth. Most of the pictures we still have but many of the names of the stars have been lost through time.

It is believed that through the names of the stars that even Adam understood the history of man and the coming of Jesus. Man, after the flood, customized the signs to center around him rather than God.

If this is true, could God have been saying to Abram, “Look at the stars and rehearse the stories told by them and the seed promised in the stories will come from you.”

Therefore, in light of Genesis 1:14, 3:15, and Galatians 3:16, verse 5 of Genesis 15 could be translated as follows: Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and rehearse the stars if you are able to relate to them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed (the Promised Messiah) be.”

To find awesome iPhone & iPad apps for the Christian Walk and Ministry go to n8slist.com

There is a letter of the Hebrew alphabet that rises above all the other letters and is considered to be the middle of the alphabet. This letter in the original script looked like a shepherd staff. In the modern Hebrew it looks like a throne. On top of the Lamed is a crown. What is interesting is that the Lamed with the two letters on either side spells the word “King.”

The meaning of the letter from the original pictograph is shepherd, goad, or control. This letter, who is the letter above all letters and the King of all kings, started out as a shepherd.

The name of the letter comes from the root word “Lamad” which means to teach. This letter is drawing attention to the source of all learning, the Bible. As a goad, it prods us on into it’s truth.

Jesus told Paul in Acts 9:5 “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

So, who is the shepherd? Who is the King of kings? Who is the Word for learning?

Let me throw out something else that is out there. Keeping in mind that the Hebrew alphabet is also their numerical system, the Lamed is a Kaf (20) with a Vav (6) on top. The total is 26. Each letter within Yhwh, God’s name, also totals 26. The Lamed actually represents 30 which is the same value as Judah, the Hebrew word for praise. In Genesis 49:10 you will discover that the law or Word of God will come from Judah. Just an interesting note.

When the Lamed is used as a prefix in a word it denotes direction such as the word “to,” such as “to the house” or “to the father.” It is only when we place Jesus, the king, first in what we do as our prefix that we receive direction.

There is something very interesting in Exodus 19:5

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special teasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.

The word for the underlined above is Lamed Yod. What is different is the Lamed in this word is larger than normal and the Yod is smaller than normal. God is telling Israel that they will be a special treasure, but not to just anyone. They will be special to Him, the King of kings, larger than life, when they understand how small they are. It is when we allow God to be larger than life in our lives and we understand our smallness that we become the special treasure to God.

2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

The King James translated this verse to say “by the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” The difference is that the Jehovah’s Witness will use the KJV to prove that Peter is speaking of two different identities, rather than calling Jesus God.

The only difference in the two is in one verse Peter uses God and the other he uses Lord. Grammatically translating into English is not always as simple as word for word in the same order. The same is true in translating other languages such as Spanish into English.

The preposition “of” (too) brings both God and Savior together in verse 1 as well as Lord and Savior together in verse 11. Peter is literally referring to Jesus as God in verse 1.

But, in verse 2 Peter changes it up and actually does refer to God the Father and Jesus our Lord. “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

So, what does Peter believe about Jesus? He believes the same as what Thomas did in John 20:28 “My Lord and my God!”

Do not allow anyone to tell you that Jesus was just a man or just a prophet or another God among many gods. Jesus is God just as much as the Father and the Holy Spirit is God.

I will not say that the King James translated it wrong but the way it is translated it could be used as an argument either way. But, in the original there is no argument.

Why is it so important to understand the divinity of Jesus Christ? We are living in a time that many are teaching that all religions worship the same God but by a different name. I can argue against that point but let’s keep one thing clear – Jesus Himself said that there was no other way to get to the Father except through Him.

I saw a survey recently that said that over 40% of Christians believe that all religions worship the same God. We have to study the Word of God or there will be many who think that they know what is right and will be dead wrong. Eternity is at risk.

The Mormons teach that Jesus and Satan are brothers and that one day they will become a god as Jesus did.

The Jehovah’s Witness teach that Jesus is just another god.

Islam teaches that Jesus will return but will be submissive to Mohammed’s teachings.

It is very important to know your Bible and know the God of the Word. If Jesus does not return soon it may be illegal for me to write such things. This teaching is what got many Christians killed in Rome in the early centuries. History has a way of repeating itself.

Exodus 27:18 The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits, made of fine woven linen, and its sockets of bronze.

The fence or walls were made of fine linen sheets around the Tabernacle. The word for these walls, yeriah, was the same word that the scribes used to described the different pages of the Torah scroll, which were the writings of Moses.

Therefore, could we not say that the whole of the tabernacle and it’s court was encased in the Word of God, the pages of God’s scroll? The Word of God is our boundary.

The word for linen is shesh which means 6. It was said that it was 6 strands of thread woven over 6 strands of thread making it very thin. It separated those on the outside from the those on the inside and yet you could still see what was going on through it. You saw them through the white linen.

God our Father sees us through Jesus Christ. Not for the filth we are but through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Paul tells us to put on Jesus Christ (Romans 13:11; Galatians 3:27)

Revelation 19:14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in finelinen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. We are described as wearing fine linen in heaven.